Denizen, 2012, Installation shot, courtesy of eve Warnock

(e)MERGE* is the first exhibition of the ZERO1 Emerging Artist Network (EAN). Continuing the tradition of the ZERO1 Biennial's Friday Night Street Festival, (e)MERGE* takes this popular event, and develops it as a site to present the work of innovative California artists in the early stages of their artistic careers. On opening night, (e)MERGE*, the outdoor exhibition of this first iteration of EAN, will cover three city blocks of the SoFA District along South First Street between San Carlos and Reed Streets in downtown San Jose. Two distinct threads are brought together in the exhibition. (e)MERGE* features a selection of artists from California university programs emphasizing the work of collaborative research groups in the spirit of collective creativity that is characteristic of the digital and new media arts, as well as a juried selection of emerging California artists from both in and out of the academic sphere whose innovative and experimental works engage with a range of radical new technologies available to artists, while engaging in re-imagining place and community in connection with the larger 2012 biennial theme Seeking Silicon Valley.

In putting together this exhibition, we hoped to highlight the variety of artistic forms that have come to characterize the pioneering efforts of a new generation of artists working in these interdisciplinary gray areas. Interactive projection, performance, large-scale installation, and wearable technologies are joined together in a variety of intriguing forms. In the sprit of audience engagement, artists explore biennial themes through several thought-provoking social practice pieces, games, and Augmented Reality applications. Finally, a strong emphasis on sound sculpture and video, shows the continued relevance of earlier forms of media art.

Bio

As California has become the locus for an increasing concentration of innovative art programs as well as independent artistic collectives that are rethinking creativity at the crossroads of art, science, and technology, young artists from across the world are joining in this efflorescence, contributing their unique perspectives to the growing number of creative spaces where the realm of artistic practice is being reimagined and revitalized. ZERO1 developed the Emerging Artist Network (EAN) in recognition of the need for a local network to arrange a means for regular dialogue between the various nodes of creative energy that have evolved, to provide regular exhibition opportunities for these emerging artists, and to extend resources and support as they develop their practices and make the transition from art students into working artists within our communities.